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The Supreme Court Decision of Plessy v. Ferguson
In the landmark 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court upheld the constitutionality of state-imposed racial segregation, establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine, which legitimized Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the US for decades -
The Tuskegee Airman
The Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American military aviators, played a crucial role in both World War II and the Civil Rights Movement, demonstrating their skills and paving the way for desegregation in the military and beyond. -
The Integration of Major League Baseball
The integration of Major League Baseball (MLB), a landmark event in American history, began on April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, becoming the first African American to play in the modern era -
The Integration of the Armed Forced
The integration of the U.S. Armed Forces, mandated by President Harry S. Truman's Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, abolished racial discrimination and segregation, ensuring equal treatment and opportunity for all service members regardless of race, color, religion, or national origin. -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, where African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to ride city buses for 381 days to protest segregated seating, sparked by Rosa Parks' arrest for refusing to give up her seat. -
The Supreme Court Decisions of Sweatt v. Painter
In Sweatt v. Painter (1950), the Supreme Court ruled that the separate law school for Black students in Texas was not equal to the University of Texas Law School, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and ordered Sweatt's admission to the University of Texas Law School -
the Supreme Court Decision of Brown v. Board of Education
In the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, the Court unanimously ruled that state-sponsored segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson. This decision was a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement and paved the way for desegregation in other public facilities. -
The Death of Emmitt Till
Emmett Louis Till was a 14-year-old African American youth, who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store. -
The Integration of Little Rock High School
Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, nine African American students—Minnijean Brown, Terrance Roberts, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Jefferson Thomas, and Carlotta Walls—attempted to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The students, known as the Little Rock Nine -
The Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957, signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 9, 1957, was the first major federal civil rights legislation since 1875, focusing on protecting voting rights and establishing a Civil Rights Division within the Justice Department -
The Freedom Rides by Freedom Riders of 1961
n 1961, the Freedom Rides, a series of bus trips through the segregated South, challenged the non-enforcement of the Supreme Court's ruling against segregation in interstate travel, leading to violence and ultimately forcing federal intervention to desegregate public transportation. -
The Greensboro Four Lunch Counter Sit-In
The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights protest that started in 1960, when young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service. -
The Twenty-Fourth Amendment
The Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1964, prohibits the federal and state governments from denying or abridging the right to vote in federal elections based on the failure to pay a poll tax or any other tax. -
The Integration of the University of Mississippi
The integration of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) in 1962 involved a federal court order for James Meredith, an African-American man, to enroll, leading to a violent riot and ultimately, Meredith becoming the first Black student to attend the university under federal protection. -
The Integration of the University of Alabama
The integration of the University of Alabama in 1963, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, saw Governor George Wallace famously stand in the schoolhouse door to block the enrollment of Vivian Malone and James Hood, but ultimately yielded to federal authority after President Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed by President Johnson
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2, 1964, a landmark piece of legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
The March on Washington & "I Have a Dream" Speech by MLK
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. -
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline, -
The Assassination of Malcolm X
US black nationalist leader Malcolm X was assassinated on 21 February 1965, at the age of 39. The BBC reported on the reaction in his adopted home of Harlem, New York, as thousands of people queued to pay their last respects. -
The Selma to Montgomery March: "Bloody Sunday"
On March 7, 1965, "Bloody Sunday" saw civil rights activists brutally attacked by law enforcement as they marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in a fight for voting rights, an event that galvanized public opinion and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
When Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it determined that racial discrimination in voting had been more prevalent in certain areas of the country. Section 4(a) of the Act established a formula to identify those areas and to provide for more stringent remedies where appropriate. -
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In Memphis Tennessee
At 6:05 P.M. on Thursday, 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. -
The Voting Rights Act Rights of 1968
This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified. In those years, African Americans in the South faced tremendous obstacles to voting, including poll taxes,